The Show Must Go On

With many film festivals internationally being cancelled, postponed or moving online we want to reassure you that creating pathways for New Zealanders to connect with short films remains our priority. The show must go on.

Provided that New Zealand has moved to a ‘Level 2’ or below by October we will still go ahead with physical screenings in cinemas where that is possible and safe for audience members. We are also planning to offer online screenings of our selected short films during the festival dates (2-25 October).

For filmmakers wondering about their eligibility for awards in light of many festivals moving online: Short films that have screened at online festivals during 2020 will be allowed in consideration for our awards. We are relaxing the rules for short films that are part of film festivals that moved online because of the pandemic during 2020. These must be existing film festivals that normally screen in cinemas, and the films must only be available online for a maximum of four weeks. Films that are freely available on platforms like Vimeo and YouTube will not qualify for awards, and can only be submitted in our ‘out of competition’ section. Likewise films that were produced as part of filmmaking competitions like 48Hours and Tropfest where the films remain online indefinitely should be submitted in our ‘out of competition’ section.

We’ll keep updating you on our progress. Please support us by buying tickets to our monthly Short Film Night events in the meantime.

Author

Gina Dellabarca, MNZM is the Festival Director for Show Me Shorts, which she co-founded in 2006. She is Vice-chair of the Short Film Conference - a world-wide organization working to promote the status of the short film and unite the global short film community. Her background includes cinema programming and management, marketing and publicity for films, festivals and major attractions.